I hate this - I love the sunshine and believe swimming in it, outside, for 6 months every year has kept me fit and young! Mind you, both September and April have been rather pleasant in recent years. But the chilly winter months always depress me.

I enjoy all the seasons in the UK, autumn in particular. And winter. I love those cold dry crisp autumn/winter days where the sky remains a stubborn azure blue. Although those drear grey rainy-cold days that go through you typical of late Jan into Feb I could happily live without.

I sneak away in winter - Christmas seems different in the sunshine.

www.kingofhits.co.uk/component/option,co...,64/?g2_itemId=18433

JK2006 wrote:
I hate this - I love the sunshine and believe swimming in it, outside, for 6 months every year has kept me fit and young! Mind you, both September and April have been rather pleasant in recent years. But the chilly winter months always depress me.


Don't despair JK. Did you know that back in 1985 the hottest day of the year in many places across the country was not in the summer at all, but on 1st October when the temperature hit 30c. The last week of September even after the autumnal equinox was a very warm and dry heatwave. All that after a rather poor August. I wrote it all down at the time and remember it well. It was the days when you could still stubble burn the fields by setting fire to them around harvest time, which often happened behind our home. The hot final days of September, the flames of a burning field and the smell of smoke very memorable.

There was a similar 1st October to that in 2011 as well, although not the warmest of the year.

More recently there was 34c in mid September 2016, and even just two years ago in 2023 the first half of September was a heatwave. Forgotten already? To counter all the climate change doomsters we had major heat in 1906 and 1911 in September too, well over a century ago. It was almost 36c in September 1906, a day in September that was the 8th hottest in the UK of the whole 20th century!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_British_Isles_heatwave#:

Autumn and winter doesn't inspire me either - but some planning can help! Short sharp weekend breaks (mid-week, if it's possible!) can help.


Under c150 miles to destination - for 1/2/3 nights/about twice a month - in an interesting spot, with easy access to London (in my case).

Places like Bath, Aldeburgh, Poole, Stow-on-the-Wold, Oxford, Burford, Eastbourne Brighton, Lymington etc. - all have their charms.

Once upon a time, the Earth was just nothing but molten rock and lava.

Funny you say this as I am just saying ..bye bye Winter.

And it's been quite a vicious winter as my huge heating bill testifies.

Perhaps the one benefit in an Oz winter is often on icy cold days there is still gorgeous blue sunny skies.

Green Man wrote:
Once upon a time, the Earth was just nothing but molten rock and lava.

A gas cloud nebula and stardust before that.

So where did the water all come from that allows it to rain on us, and all the oceans, passing icy comets? Because it wasn't on all that molten rock.

Good question, but a lot of seawater is old dinosaur piss, we were taught at school and in those exact words.

It would be interesting to know how many comets and asteroids have penetrated the planet that gave us icy cold water. We only know about the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs.

Summer doesn't really end on 1st September, the Met Office just likes making neat and tidy monthly seasons to fit their data gathering. It doesn't end on 26th October either, when the clocks go back. I never understand BST (British Summer Time) lasting the majority of the year, 7 months from March to October. Why does it have the word "summer" at all in it, roughly a week after spring has officially begun!

Summer time in 2025 technically ends for real on Monday 22nd September at precisely 7.19pm, aka the autumn equinox. I always consider the first half of September to be late summer. It's weird how just going forward one single day from August 31st to September 1st has this dramatic psychological effect on peoples view of the time of year it is.